New Zealand community mourns native son Israeli soldier killed in Gaza

July 28, 2014 9:34am

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – A small community in New Zealand is mourning the loss of a Kiwi-born Israeli soldier killed in action in Gaza.

Staff Sgt. Guy Boyland, 21, was killed Friday trying to raze tunnels in Gaza. He was laid to rest at his home Sunday on Kibbutz Ginosar in the Galilee.

Boyland was born in Taupo, a small lakeside community in New Zealand’s north island.

His non-Jewish father Glenn married his Jewish-Israeli mother Adva, and the family moved to Israel when Guy was 5.

Boyland’s 90-year-old grandfather, Jim Boyland, said the extended family was grieving the loss of the ginger-haired, guitar-playing kid.

“He was very gregarious,” he said. “He never knew what life was all about, he never lived like an ordinary child. But he was very patriotic and wanted to be in the bomb squad.”

He said Guy, who was just four months away from finishing his service as a combat engineer, had only returned to New Zealand once – about three years ago just before he was drafted into the IDF. “Glenn will stay there. They won’t leave their son behind; they’re committed to staying there in Israel.”

A Facebook page was established in memory of Boyland. “We deeply appreciate the love and concern that help to shed a fraction of light upon these dark times,” his sister, Kim, who served in the Israeli Air Force, wrote on her Facebook page. “Thank you so much.”